Patchwork Girl
Patchwork Girl The '''Patchwork Girl' aka Scraps is a fictional character created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in Baum's seventh Oz book titled The Patchwork Girl of Oz, published in 1913. Scraps comes from Oz's eastern quadrant known as the Munchkin Country in the magical Land of Oz and eventually becomes the love interest of the Scarecrow. Baums' Description The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913) The Patchwork girl is a life-size living doll made from various pieces of patchwork quilts. She's taller than a young boy, and her body is plump and rounded because it is stuffed with cotton. She wears a patchwork skirt, a patchwork apron with pockets, and red leather shoes with pointy toes. She has silver button eyes sewn on with black thread to create the pupils. Her hair is brown yarn done in braids. She has thin golden discs for ears and also golden fingernails. One of her cheeks is yellow and the other red, her chin blue, her forehead purple and her nose bright yellow. She has a red felt tongue, and pearl teeth. We have hundreds more books for your enjoyment. Read them all! The woman had cut a slit for the Patchwork Girl's mouth and sewn two rows of white pearls in it for teeth, using a strip of scarlet plush for a tongue. This mouth Ojo considered very artistic and lifelike, and Margolotte was pleased when the boy praised it. There were almost too many patches on the face of the girl for her to be considered strictly beautiful, for one cheek was yellow and the other red, her chin blue, her forehead purple and the center, where her nose had been formed and padded, a bright yellow. Oz History: Scraps the Living Patchwork Doll She was originally made by Margolotte, the Munchkin wife of Dr. Pipt, to be a servant girl. The patchwork quilt had been made by her grandmother, and never used as it wasn't all blue; Marglotte thought it was an excellent choice as it would keep her future servant from thinking herself very beautiful. She made the doll with great care while her husband spent six years creating the Powder of Life to make her live. She intended to give the girl only a few brains - obedience, truth, amiability and a little cleverness. Ojo, who was visiting the magician with his Unc Nunkie, felt that this was unfair and gave Scraps all of the kinds of brains the magician kept. As a result, Scraps has courage, learning, judgment, ingenuity, self reliance, poesy, and a double dose of cleverness in addition to the amiability, obedience, and truth. Unfortunately Ojo did not get the balance exactly right, so she seems a bit crazy to those around her. She was named "Scraps" by the Glass Cat, although Margolotte wanted to name her "Angeline". When she was brought to life, she flung out an arm, knocking the Powder of Life from the magician's hand. Unc Nunkie and Margolotte both jumped, and accidentally knocked the Liquid of Petrifaction onto themselves; they were both turned into marble. There was no Powder of Life left; it had all spilled onto a phonograph, and it would take six years to make a new batch. Ojo, Scraps, and Bungle set out across Oz to collect the ingredients for a remedy to the Liquid of Petrifaction which could bring Unc Nunkie and Margolotte back to life. They met the Woozy and the Shaggy Man on their way to the Emerald City. Along the way, Scraps and the Scarecrow met for the first time. Both were very impressed with each other. The Guardian of the Gates was also impressed, and wrote a song in her honor called "The Speckled Alligator". Scraps accompanied Ojo as he continued his quest, joined by Dorothy Gale and the Scarecrow. They resolved a war between the Hoppers and Horners and met the Tin Woodman before returning to the Emerald City where Scraps was set free from servitude to her creators. (The Patchwork Girl of Oz) Book appearances *''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'' (First appearance) *''The Lost Princess of Oz'' *''The Magic of Oz'' *''Glinda of Oz'' *''The Royal Book of Oz'' *''Kabumpo in Oz'' *''The Cowardly Lion of Oz'' *''The Lost King of Oz'' *''The Hungry Tiger of Oz'' *''The Gnome King of Oz'' *''The Giant Horse of Oz'' *''Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz'' *''The Yellow Knight of Oz'' *''Pirates in Oz'' *''Ojo in Oz'' *''The Wishing Horse of Oz'' *''Handy Mandy in Oz'' *''Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz'' *''The Wonder City of Oz'' *''The Scalawagons of Oz'' *''Lucky Bucky in Oz'' *''The Magical Mimics in Oz'' *''The Shaggy Man of Oz'' *''The Hidden Valley of Oz'' *''Merry Go Round in Oz'' *''The Runaway in Oz'' Other Media Scraps has always been a popular character, however she has appeared in only five film productions, two of which were made for television. When L. Frank Baum produced a film version of the title story, he was not able to find a woman of athleticism suitable to play the role, and therefore cast the male French acrobat Pierre Couderc. She was portrayed by Doreen Tracy on the 4th Anniversary episode of Disneyland. In The Oz Kids, she was voiced by Lori Alan and had numerous infant patchwork kids. '' by an unknown actor.]] She also appeared in Walter Murch's Return to Oz as an unbilled extra in the coronation scene.http://www.waltdisneysreturntooz.com/Cor_Patch.jpg Thundertoad Animation's comparatively primitive CGI version of her story from 2005 featured Cyndi Hotopp in the title role. Her image was also used to advertise desks. There were at least two versions of this ad used as a classroom poster and issued by American Seating Company. These posters include the statement "These quaint characters are quoted from the famous Oz books and were created by L. Frank Baum. Used by permission of Reilly and Lee Company, the publishers." An earlier version of the poster is printed mostly in green and orange, a later version has more colors. A picture of a girl sitting at a desk in the lower right corner is also different in these two versions. Lost in Oz In the pilot episode of the never-aired television series Lost in Oz, The Patchwork Girl appeared in a re-imagined form, this time under the name Serena. She did not appear made of patchwork in this series, although some parts of her were stitched together. Later, after being stabbed, she is shown to have the familiar colorful patchwork beneath her dark outer appearance. She also always spoke in rhymes. She was one of the three main characters in the show. Serena's new backstory was as follows: She was the best friend of the girl who was cursed to become the new Wicked Witch of the West after the original was killed by Dorothy Gale. Once that girl became the new witch, Serena tried to stop her and was killed. She was later stitched back together. Lost in Oz (Book) Scraps is also one of the main Oz characters in the Lost in Oz trilogy by Joshua Patrick Dudley. She joins the modern teens in the first novel, where she was torn apart and restitched, and becomes a close companion of the main characters throughout the next two novels. Her character is wittier than ever and often offers the characters of Lost in Oz sound advice. Category:Oz Book Characters Category:Powder of Life subjects Category:Oz Movie Characters Category:Protagonists